Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) * * ½

(first lines)
Rufus: Hi, welcome to the future. San Dimas California 2688. And I'm telling you it's great here. The air is clean, the water's clean, even the dirt, it's clean. Bowling averages are way up, mini-golf scores are way down. And we have more excellent water slides than any other planet we communicate with. I'm telling you this place is great! But it almost wasn't. You see, 700 years ago, the two great ones, ran into a few problems. So now I have to travel back in time to help them out. If I should fail to keep these two on the correct path, the basis of our society will be in danger. Don't worry, it'll all make sense. I'm a professional.

The film opens in the future San Dimas, California, with agent Rufus (George Carlin) preparing to use a time-traveling phone booth to go back 700 years to 1988 to make sure that Bill S. Preston (Alex Winter) and Ted "Theodore" Logan (Keanu Reeves) remain together in the band "Wyld Stallyns", as their music is the core of the future's utopian society. There's only one problem: they can't play their instruments. Rufus finds that Bill and Ted are on the verge of failing their high school history class. Their hard nosed history teacher tells them that if they don't pass their oral history report, they will flunk out of school. This oral report involves imagining what historical characters would've thought of the present day and the local environment.

Ted: What are you doin' home, dad?
Capt. Logan: I'm looking for my keys.
Ted: Oh!
Capt. Logan: You haven't done anything with them, have ya?
Ted: No, sir.
Capt. Logan: I spoke to your principal today, Ted. He said you're failing history.
Ted: Me and Bill...
Capt. Logan: He also said that if fail history, you flunk out of school. You know what that would mean, don't ya, Ted?
Ted: That I would have to go to Oats' military acadamy, sir.
Capt. Logan: Uh huh. I spoke to Colonel Oats this morning. He's anxious to meet you, Ted. You pack your bags, Ted.
Ted: What?
Capt. Logan: You're going to military school, Ted.
Ted: But, dad...
Capt. Logan: No, I don't wanna hear it, Ted.
Ted: But...
Capt. Logan: Ted! You go home and pack your bags now.

If Ted fails, his father police Captain Logan (Hal Langdon) will ship him off to an Alaskan military academy, effectively ending the pair's rock band. As the two try to write a history report by asking customers at a local Circle K, Rufus introduces himself to them. Though Bill and Ted are skeptical of Rufus' claims, they are convinced when future versions of themselves land nearby and explain the situation to them. Rufus shows Bill and Ted how the time machine works by taking them back to see Napoleon Bonaparte (Terry Camilleri) preparing for battle. Rufus returns to the present and leaves the two with the time machine. After Rufus leaves, they discover that Napoleon was dragged with them back to the present, and they get an idea. To pass their history exam, they will go back in time and kidnap other historical figures and have them explain what they think of the San Dimas of the present. Bill and Ted leave Napoleon with Ted's younger brother Deacon (Frazier Bain) while they travel back to the past.

Bill: Okay, wait, if we were one of Europe's greatest leaders, and we were stranded in San Dimas for one day, where would we go?
Bill and Ted: Waterloo!
Ted: (after Napoleon explains his new waterslide war strategy) I don't think it's gonna work.
Napoleon: Non? (he slams his pointer down on a map) Triomphe Napoleon!

Bill and Ted first collect Billy the Kid (Dan Shor) and Socrates (Tony Steedman), who are both confused but eager to help the pair. When they travel to medieval Europe, they become smitten with Princesses Elizabeth (Kimberley Kates) and Joanna (Diane Franklin), but fall into trouble with their father the King. They manage to escape with the help of Billy and Socrates and continue traveling through time. Soon, they have collected Sigmund Freud (Rod Loomis), Ludwig van Beethoven (Clifford David), Genghis Khan (Al Leong), Joan of Arc (Jane Wiedlin), and Abraham Lincoln (Robert V. Barron). The passengers encounter brief technical difficulties, and when attempting to return to the present, end up returning on the previous day outside the Circle K with Rufus introducing himself to their past selves. Bill and Ted recount their experience to their past selves, and learn how to properly return to the present from Rufus in order to give their history report on time.

Bill and Ted: Hows it goin' ladies?
Princess Elizabeth: You're the ones we saw in front of the castle.
Ted: I am Ted of San Dimas, and, uh, I bring to you a message of love.
Princess Elizabeth: (giggles) From who?
Ted: From... from myself.
Princess Elizabeth: And what is this message you speak of?
Ted: Uh...
Bill: Lyrics dude, recite them some lyrics.
Ted: Oh, you beautiful babes from England, for whom we have traveled through time... will you go to the prom with us in San Dimas? We will have a most triumphant time!

Bill: (approaching Socrates) How's it going? I'm Bill, this is Ted. We're from the future.
Socrates: Socrates.
Ted: (whispering to Bill) Now what?
Bill: I dunno. Philosophize with him!
Ted: "All we are is dust in the wind," dude. (Socrates gives them a blank stare)
Bill: (scoops up a pile of dust lets it run out of his hand) Dust. (he blows the remainder away)
Bill: Wind.
Ted: (points at Socrates) Dude. (Socrates gasps)
Billy the Kid: Not bad, eh, Socrates? Where are we, dude?
Bill: England, 15th century.

Sigmund Freud: Hello. I'm Dr. Freud, but you may call me Siggy. What is a geek?
Bill: (responding to Freud's invitation to examine him) Nah. Just got a minor Oedipal complex.
Sigmund Freud: This must be a dream. You both seem to be suffering from a mild form of hysteria.

Abraham Lincoln: Fourscore and... (looks at his pocket watch) Seven minutes ago... we, your forefathers, were brought forth upon a most excellent adventure conceived by our new friends, Bill... and Ted. These two great gentlemen are dedicated to a proposition which was true in my time, just as it's true today. Be excellent to each other. And... party on dudes!

Bill: Dude, you gotta have a poker face, like me. (Ted stops grinning at his cards, Bill looks at his own cards)
Bill: Whoa, three aces!
Bearded Cowboy: What the hell's going on here, Billy?
Old West Ugly Dude: Are you a-cheatin' us kid?
Billy the Kid: Cheating? Me? (leaps up, flips table over screaming) Aah!

While trying to get the other historical figures accustomed to life in San Dimas by dropping them off at the local shopping mall, Ted learns that Deacon abandoned Napoleon at a bowling alley the night before. Bill and Ted go off to search for him, finding him enjoying himself at a local water park, "Waterloo". When they return to the mall, they find the other historical figures have been arrested by Ted's father due to the chaos they caused. The two try to figure out how to rescue them when they realize they can use the time machine to go back in time and plant elements, such as the cell keys, at the police station for their escape plan. They successfully free the historical figures and make it to the school on time for their report. The report is an outstanding success, and the two pass their course.

Bill: It is indeed a pleasure to introduce to you a gentleman we picked up in medieval Mongolia in the year 1269.
Ted: Please welcome, the very excellent barbarian...
Ted and Bill: ...Mr. Genghis Khan! (All the students applaud wildly for Khan)
Ted: This is a dude who, 700 years ago, totally ravaged China, and who, we were told, 2 hours ago, totally ravaged Oshman's Sporting Goods.

These two guys don't actually have to do anything to be funny. You laugh at them even if they're just standing there. It turns out they can be quite resourceful. Like a lot of teenagers, they just need motivation. It's hard not to like them, since they're about as good-natured kids as you're likely to find. Bill has the initiative, willing to take risks without hesitation because he doesn't have a clue of what he's getting into. Ted is a born romantic, a sweet-faced kid who all the girls think is really cute. Any time he sees a good-looking girl his heart leaps into his throat and stars flicker in his eyes.

At the end of the film, Rufus joins Bill and Ted as they practice and congratulates them on their report. Rufus brings in Princesses Elizabeth and Joanna, whom he rescued from their father, and explains that he's introduced them to the modern century, and that they too are destined to be part of Wyld Stallyns. As the four begin to play a cacophony of music, Rufus speaks the film's last lines: "They do get better."

BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE is a combination comedy and science fiction/fantasy that presents the viewer with an interesting premise: What if the actions and words of a pair of southern California teenagers are actually important to the survival of the world? This idea seems doomed to failure when we meet Bill and Ted for the first time. The two teens are nice enough guys but apparently are real airheads when it comes to academics. It works as a film because it provides us with humor on a number of levels. The film is actually great family fare because it doesn't contain a lot of profanity, gratuitous violence or sexual activity and provides audiences of all ages with a pleasant time. It is clearly an important influence on humor of the 1990s when you think of subsequent projects like WAYNE'S WORLD (1992).

This slacker comedy provides some good low-brow laughs. One of the silliest movies of all time, the humor is juvenile, and the teenage protagonists seem almost completely vacant-minded. The film aggravated some educators with its frivolous treatment of academia but brought praise from others for making history fun and palatable. It also stamped words like "bogus" and "gnarley" firmly into the 1990s slang lexicon. George Carlin's appearance as the time-traveler Rufus adds a little comedic legitimacy to this little film, which essentially boils down to engaging and well-paced silly, mindless fun with a fairly well-written script. The legacy of Bill and Ted can be traced to the slacker comedies of Adam Sandler.

Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter make a great comedy team and their valley dude act and vocabulary becomes very humorous in the context of all of the historical figures we see. Could you imagine greeting Genghis Khan or Napoleon with the line "How's it goin', dude?" Another premise that works very well is the whole idea that the vacuous valley talk like "party on" and "be excellent" or heavy metal music from a teenage garage band actually becomes the mantras of a future society. Finally a lot of humor is made from taking famous historical figures and inserting them into contemporary American suburban society. When we see Napoleon downing a huge sundae at an ice cream store, or delighting to the tidal wave at a water theme park, Beethoven jamming on modern music synthesizers at a shopping mall, Billy the Kid and Socrates learning to play Nerf ball, and Joan of Arc getting into aerobic dance, it becomes an interesting commentary on our society and what the impact of common things we take for granted will have on the future. It provides us with the more subtle idea that maybe the perceptions and attitudes of this generation will have some importance in our future, and that the teenagers of today eventually may amount to something in our culture.

The cast also includes: Bernie Casey (Mr. Ryan), Amy Stock-Poynton (Missy Preston), J. Patrick McNamara (Mr. Preston), William Robbins (Ox Robbins), Steve Shepherd (Randolf Shepherd), Anne Machette (Buffy), (Traci Dawn Davis), (Jody Davis), Duncan McLeod (Old West Bartender), John Clure (Tattooed Cowboy), Jim Cody Williams (Bearded Cowboy), Dusty O'Dee (Old West Ugly Dude), Heather Pittman (Kerry), Ruth Pittman (Daphne), Richard Alexander (Bowling Alley Manager), James Bowbitch (John the Serf), John Karlsen (Evil Duke), Jeanne Hermine Herek (Mother at Waterslides), Jonathan Bond (Waterslide Attendant), Jeff S. Goodrich (Music Store Salesman), Lisa Rubin (Girl at Mall), Marjean Holden (Student Speaker), Claudia Templeton (Aerobic Saleswoman), Carol Gossler (Aerobic Instructor), J. Donovan Nelson (Mall Photographer), Marcia Darroch (Store Clerk), Steven Rotblatt (Police Psychiatrist), Ed Solomon (Stupid Waiter), Chris Matheson (Ugly Waiter), Mark Ogden (Neanderthal 1), Tom Dugan (Neanderthal 2), Ron Althoff (Security Guard), Clarence Clemons (The Three Most Important People in the World), Martha Davis (The Three Most Important People in the World), Fee Waybill (The Three Most Important People in the World), Phillip V. Caruso (Dance Photographer), Lee Hollingsworth (Student), Tricia Porter (Bowling Score Keeper), and Golan Ramras (Kid at Waterloo). David Newman composed the original music. Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon wrote the screenplay. Stephen Herek directed.

The film was shot in the Phoenix, Arizona, metropolitan area, mostly in and around Coronado High School in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1987. This movie was actually made and planned for release in 1987, but due to the bankruptcy of the film's original distributor, the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, the project was not released theatrically until February 17, 1989. As a partial result of the delay, certain dates in the movie originally scripted as "1987" had to be redubbed as "1988". The copyright date of this movie is 1988 and the same date appears on the DVD cover.

Originally, the time machine was to be a 1969 Chevrolet van, but the idea was nixed as being too close in concept to the De Lorean used in the BACK TO THE FUTURE trilogy. Instead, the time machine was styled after a 1960s American telephone booth. Its similarity to the time-traveling British police box-shaped TARDIS of the BBC's television programme DOCTOR WHO is reflected in the "Cracked" parody in which the Doctor threatens to sue Rufus. However, the Bill & Ted telephone booth lacked the huge interior spaces of the Doctor's TARDIS.

As is often the case with movie soundtracks with rock music in them, the songs are arranged in a different order than they are heard in the movie. The sequence of the songs in the movie is as follows:

6. I Can't Break Away (Big Pig)
4. Dancing with a Gypsy (Tora Tora)
5. Father Time (Shark Island)
7. Dangerous (Shark Island)
9. In Time (Robbi Robb)
10. Two Heads Are Better Than One (Power Tool)
2. Boys and Girls Are Doing It (Vital Signs)
1. Play With Me (Extreme)
8. Walk Away (Bricklin)
3. Not So Far Away (Glen Burtnik)
10. Two Heads Are Better Than One (reprise) (Power Tool)

Two spin-off TV series were produced as BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURES. The first, an animated series, featured the voices of Carlin, Winter, and Reeves, ran for 21 episodes in 1990 and 1991. A later live-action series, featuring none of the cast from the movie, included Evan Richards as Bill and Christopher Kennedy as Ted, and lasted seven episodes in 1992 on FOX. Video games from Game Boy, NES and Atari Lynx were released, very loosely based on the film's plot. A PC title and nearly identical Amiga and Commodore 64 port were made in 1991 by Off the Wall Productions and IntraCorp, Inc. under contract by Capstone Software and followed the original movie very closely.

BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE was followed in 1991 by the sequel BILL & TED'S BOGUS JOURNEY. Like the first film, it stars Keanu Reeves as "Ted" Theodore Logan and Alex Winter as Bill S. Preston Esq. The film's working title was "Bill & Ted Go To Hell" and it is slightly better than the original.

The movie opens in the future, where Chuck De Nomolos (Joss Ackland) steals a time traveling phone booth, and then sends robotic duplicates of Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) back to the past to prevent their band "Wyld Stallyns" from winning the Fourth Annual San Dimas Battle of the Bands, thereby removing their influence on history. Rufus (George Carlin) attempts to stop De Nomolos' plan but ends up lost in time. In the present, Bill and Ted struggle with their band Wyld Stallyns. While former 15th-century princesses and current fiancées Elizabeth (Annette Azcuy) and Joanna (Sarah Trigger) have become skilled on their instruments, Bill and Ted are still inept. De Nomolos' clones capture Bill and Ted, and kill the pair by throwing them over a cliff, then take over their lives, including ruining their relationships with the princesses.

The real Bill and Ted find themselves facing Death (William Sadler), the Grim Reaper, who challenges them to a game for their souls. They realize they have no chance of defeating him, and instead give Death a "melvin" and flee. Bill and Ted try to find someone who can help them in their ethereal state, first by possessing Ted's father, Captain Logan (Hal Landon Jr.). He says, "I totally possessed my Dad!" He possesses another police officer, and then tries to call out at a séance held by Ted's stepmother Missy (Amy Stock-Poynton). However, at the séance, they are mistaken for evil spirits and cast down into Hell. The two are sentenced by Satan (Frank Welker) and forced to live their own personal versions of Hell. The two realize their only means of escape is to play the Reaper in a game for their souls.

The Reaper brings them out of Hell, and lets them decide which game to play. The pair select several games, including Battleship, Clue, electric football, and Twister, each time winning and requiring the Reaper to insist on a rematch. Eventually the Reaper acquiesces and lets the pair command him. Bill and Ted realize that the only way to face their robotic counterparts and get to the Battle of the Bands is to find the smartest being alive to build them a more powerful set of robots. The Reaper takes them to Heaven and introduces him to Station (Frank Welker), an alien that is able to split itself into two smaller versions of itself. The group returns to present-day Earth, and gather the necessary parts for Station at the local hardware store. As they race to the Battle of the Bands, Station completes powerful robotic versions of Bill and Ted. Station's robots are able to defeat De Nomolos' clones before Wyld Stallyns are due to take the stage. De Nomolos arrives from the future in the time machine, intent on defeating the band himself over a worldwide television broadcast, but Bill and Ted are able to get the upper hand with their friends' help. Rufus, who was able to return to the future and then travel to the present, helps to secure De Nomolos while encouraging Bill and Ted to get on stage and play.

As Bill and Ted reunite with their fiancées and prepare to play, they realize that their musical skills still are lacking, and the four of them disappear briefly in the time machine, reappearing moments later but aged several months. During this time, they have not only learned how to skillfully play their instruments but both couples have married and have offspring. Wyld Stallyns, joined by both the Reaper and Station, play their world-changing music to a global television audience thanks to De Nomolos' interference. During the end credits, fictional newspaper and magazine articles describe the worldwide impact of the Stallyns' music towards the utopian future.

Capricorn One (1978) * * ¾

The setting is the late 1970s, and the first manned mission to Mars is on the launch pad ready to blast off. We hear the voice of a radio announcer give the solemn details of what was eaten at breakfast by the three astronauts who begin their journey to Mars this day. The sequence lasts perhaps 10 minutes, and it's very promising. It's funny and accurate in all the banalities we have seen on TV of NASA rockets into outer space. Then CAPRICORN ONE gets down to its real narrative. It is the story of a phony USA Mars landing, faked by employees of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, because the mission's life-support system is faulty. To scratch the mission would mean the end of the nation's space program. So says Dr. James Kelloway (Hal Holbrook), the mission's director, as he tries to convince us--as well as the mission's three astronauts, who've been removed from their space capsule at the last minute.

Lt. Col Peter Willis: Hey, Dr. Kelloway. Funny thing happened on the way to Mars. Anybody hungry? Oh, the marvels of American science. Here we are millions of miles from earth, and we can still send out for pizza.

Congressman Hollis Peaker: (At the launch of Capricorn One Peaker notices the Vice-President ogling a woman through his binoculars. He points to the launch pad) It's that big, tall, white thing over there. You can't miss it.

NASA realizes that a faulty life support system has doomed any chance of a successful flight, so for political and financial purposes they decide to fake the landing rather than cancel the mission. Minutes before the launch, the bewildered crew of Col. Charles Brubaker (James Brolin), Lt. Col. Peter Willis (Sam Waterston), and Cmdr. John Walker (O. J. Simpson) are removed from the capsule and flown to an old abandoned United States Army Air Corps base deep within the desert. The televised launch proceeds on schedule, but the public is unaware that spacecraft Capricorn One does not have a crew.

At the remote base, the astronauts are informed they will fake the television footage from Mars and it is their patriotic duty to participate. Initially they refuse, but authorities imply their careers and the lives of their families are at stake if they do not cooperate.

Col. Charles Brubaker: This is really wonderful. If we go along with you and lie our asses off, the world of truth and ideals is, er, protected. But if we don't want to take part in some giant rip-off of yours then somehow or other we're managing to ruin the country. You're pretty good, Jim. I'll give you that.
Dr. James Kelloway: You think it's all a couple of looney scientists, it's not! It's bigger. There are people out there, forces out there, who have a lot to lose. They're grown ups. It's gotten too big, it's in the hands of grown ups!

The astronauts remain in captivity for a period of several months and are filmed "landing on Mars" within a studio located at the base. The conspiracy is known to only a select few NASA officials, until alert technician Elliot Whittier (Robert Walden) stumbles across a bizarre technical anomaly, namely television transmissions from Mars made by the crew are being received by ground control before the spacecraft telemetry arrives. This cannot be possible. The most logical explanation for the anomaly is that the TV transmissions and spacecraft telemetry are coming from two separate locations, and the location of the TV transmissions is much closer to Earth than Mars. Whittier is confused by the anomaly and wishes to investigate further, but is told not to worry about it by his employer. Even so, Whittier feels sufficiently uneasy to share his concerns with journalist friend Robert Caulfield (Elliott Gould) at a local bar. But before Whittier can fully set out his concerns, he mysteriously disappears.

As Caulfield discovers that all evidence of his friend's life appears to have been erased, he becomes suspicious and begins investigating the Mars mission. Attempts to silence Caulfield by trying to kill him are made, but Caulfield survives. Meanwhile back at the abandoned military base, the astronauts begin to suspect that if the conspiracy is to be successful, they will eventually have to be killed. The astronauts' suspicions become reality when their empty capsule burns up during atmospheric reentry and they are declared dead to a mournful nation. The captive astronauts immediately stage a daring escape and attempt to evade military forces in order to expose the conspiracy. Stranded in the desert, they try to make their way back to civilization while being pursued by a pair of helicopters.

Col. Charles Brubaker: We... are dead. We are dead.
Lt. Col Peter Willis: S**t. I was such a terrific guy.

Robert Caulfield: Look, when a reporter tells his assignment editor that he thinks he may be on to something that could be really big, the assignment editor is supposed to say: "You've got forty eight hours, kids, and you better come up with something good or it's going to be your neck!" That's what he's supposed to say, I saw it in a movie.
Walter Loughlin: You're not crazy, I'm crazy. I'm crazy for listening and I'm crazy for saying what I'm about to say. I'll give you twenty four hours to come up with something. Not forty eight. I saw the movie too, it was twenty four. You're fired! Oh, I love how that sounds. I love that so much I'm going to say it again. You're fired. You're through. Oh, I love it!

In the end, Brubaker is the only crew member to avoid capture, Willis and Walker are captured and presumably murdered. Caulfield's investigation leads him to the desert, where he finds the military base and the set, and with the help of cropduster pilot Albain (Telly Savalas), he manages to rescue Brubaker before the men in the helicopters can capture or kill him. The film becomes a chase movie set in the Nevada desert.

Robert Caulfield: My name is Caulfield.
Albain: Hey, I can't help that.
Robert Caulfield: Mr Albain, how much do you charge to dust a field?
Albain: Twenty five dollars.
Robert Caulfield: I'd like to hire your plane.
Albain: That'll be a hundred dollars.
Robert Caulfield: You said you charged twenty five?
Albain: Twenty five dollars to dust a field, but you ain't got no field because you ain't no farmer, which means you ain't poor and I think you're a pervert!
Robert Caulfield: Okay, one hundred.
Albain: One hundred and twenty five.
Robert Caulfield: What?
Albain: Because you said yes to a hundred too quick, which means you can afford a hundred and twenty five. Now what the hell is your friend doing here?
Robert Caulfield: He's lost.
Albain: He robbed a bank or something?
Robert Caulfield: No.
Albain: Well, I get a third.
Robert Caulfield: What?
Albain: We find him, I get a third of the loot. Now keep your goddamn head down. (after killing helicopter pilots) Perverts! (turns to Caulfield) Remember I get half.

The film ends with Caulfield bringing Brubaker to the astronauts' memorial service, exposing the conspiracy in dramatic fashion in front of dozens of witnesses and live national television.

CAPRICORN ONE is a thriller movie about a Mars landing hoax. The plot is simple and rather chilling for this expensive stylistically bankrupt suspense melodrama. It was written and directed by Peter Hyams and produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment production company for Warner Brothers. Although thematically CAPRICORN ONE is a typical 1970s government-conspiracy thriller with similarities to Hyams's subsequent film OUTLAND (1981), the story was inspired by allegations that the Apollo Moon landings were a hoax. The movie has been rated PG for some mildly vulgar language, but it offends only common sense. It's a G-rated movie in disguise, not a great film for the quality cast involved, but a good one that drags in some spots. A few scenes go on a bit too long, and the film is full of quirky characters who occasionally spend so long being quirky that it is obvious their purpose is to show off that quirk. CAPRICORN ONE is a flawed and dated movie, but still worth seeing for it's nostalgia value and for a believable and compelling action film.

This movie falls into the type of conspiracy film that became a fad following the Watergate scandal. Peter Hyams says he pitched the idea for CAPRICORN ONE around for several years but it was not until Watergate made the idea fashionable that he was able to sell the script. The plot is quite clever. Hyams borrows more than an idea or two from writer Barry Malzberg’s satirical exhumations of the space-program and from the lunatic conspiracy theorists who insist that the Moon Landing was faked on TV.

The cast also includes: Brenda Vaccaro (Kay Brubaker), Karen Black (Judy Drinkwater), David Huddleston (Hollis Peaker), David Doyle (Walter Loughlin), Lee Bryant (Sharon Willis), Denise Nicholas (Betty Walker), James Sikking (Control Room Man), Alan Fudge (Capsule Communicator), James Karen (Vice President Price), Virginia Kaiser (Mrs. Price), Nancy Malone (Mrs. Peaker), Hank Stohl (General Enders), Norman Bartold (President), Darrell Zwerling (Dr. Bergen), Milton Selzer (Dr. Burroughs), Lou Frizzell (Horace Gruning), Chris Hyams (Charles Brubaker, Jr.), Seanna Marre (Sandy Brubaker), Paul Picerni (Jerry), Barbara Bosson (Alva Leacock), Paul Haney (Paul Cunningham), Jon Cedar (F.B.I. Man 1), Steve Tannen (Man at Hangar 1), Trent Dolan (Man at Hangar 2), Todd Hoffman (N.A.S.A. Usher), Marty Anka (Bartender), Ken White (Tracking Technician), John Hiscock (Reporter 1), Bridget Byrne (Reporter 2), Colin Dangaard (Reporter 3), James Bacon (Reporter 4), Sandy Davidson (N.A.S.A. Reporter), Ron Cummins (F.B.I. Man 2), Dennis O'Flaherty (F.B.I. Man 3), Zack Taylor (F.B.I. Man 4), and Frank Farmer (Policeman). Jerry Goldsmith composed the original music. Peter Hyams wrote the screenplay and directed.

When it was released, CAPRICORN ONE received a good deal of criticism from the science fiction community for its less than reverent attitude toward the space program. Writer David Gerrold claimed, "It belittles and demeans the highest aspirations of the mind ... devalues the integrity of science itself. Those of us who stood in our backyards on quiet summer nights, gazing up at the stars and wondering, hoping ... the makers of CAPRICORN ONE have taken our dream girl and portrayed her as a prostitute." This argument was defeated by the fact that NASA co-operated with and even loaned equipment and space modules for the making of the film. Rather than trashing its ideals, CAPRICORN ONE actually seems to be lamenting the dream that inspired the space program. Hal Holbrook has a great soliloquy early on in the film about the loss of the dream inspired by John F. Kennedy’s original call for space exploration in the face of 1970s budgetary cutbacks.

This high-concept film is one of Peter Hyams' best. The conspiracy theory premise requires a major suspension of disbelief, but Hyams makes it worthwhile with some inspired work behind the camera. His script is peppered with plenty of rapid-fire dialogue worthy of a Howard Hawks comedy. The exchanges between Elliott Gould and Karen Black are particularly memorable and Hyams applies plenty of style and energy to the film's action set pieces, especially the memorable "dogfight" finale. All the thrills Hyams generates are bolstered by Bill Butler's sharp widescreen cinematography and Jerry Goldsmith's rousing, militaristic score. However, the glue that holds the film together is the tight ensemble work of its gifted cast: Elliott Gould effectively utilizes his off-kilter charm to flesh out a stock "intrepid reporter" role, James Brolin is appropriately stoic as the bravest of the astronaut trio, and Hal Holbrook is quietly effective as a government figure with a hidden agenda. There are also plenty of great supporting roles, the best being Telly Savalas' scene-stealing work as an easily annoyed aviator. Basically CAPRICORN ONE is a lightweight but likable movie which provides plenty of fun for thriller fans.

Two novelizations of the film were written and published by separate authors in 1978. The first was written by Ken Follett under the pseudonym Bernard L. Ross and published in the UK, the other was written by Ron Goulart and published in the US. Both versions are based on Peter Hyam's screenplay.

Lionsgate's DVD of CAPRICORN ONE is an enhanced transfer that replicates cinematographer Bill Butler's sharp images and showcases Jerry Goldsmith's punchy score. The DVD includes a featurette and an entertaining commentary. Director Peter Hyams talks about sifting through official lies while serving as a reporter in Vietnam. He's realistic about his film and proud of its technical achievement. One of Hyams' inspirations came from a statement made by an astronaut. During a launch, the astronaut mused over the fact that he was sitting on an enormous tower of explosives, riding a spaceship in which each part was designed and assembled by the lowest bidder.

Hyams doesn't talk much about the budget shortcuts, such as the fact that most of the desert scenes, including the aerial stunts, seem to be filmed adjacent to the familiar Red Rock Canyon area north of Palmdale, California. Unfortunately, his "helicopters as characters" aerial choreography has dated badly. The bug-like copters turn as if to speak to one another, and behave like hound dogs on the scent. They also fly in tight formation at all times, a risk that's both unnecessary and counterproductive for a desert search. Hyams does point out the film's excellent miniatures, and explains the scheduling problem with SUPERMAN (1978) that gave CAPRICORN ONE a top summer distribution slot.

The featurette places writer-director Hyams opposite a historian and a UFO phenomena buff for an uneven discussion. They cover Hyams' other inspiration, the persistent claims by conspiracy theorists that the Apollo moon landings never happened, and were faked just as seen in CAPRICORN ONE.

Francis (1950) * * ¾

During WWII Second lieutenant Peter Stirling (Donald O'Connor) is wounded, terrified, exhausted, and lost deep behind Japanese enemy lines in Burma. He is rescued by a talking army mule who carries him seven miles to safety and becomes his best friend. Being a talking animal's friend has its advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, Francis is great at ferreting out enemy positions on the island and making Peter look like a war hero. On the minus side, everyone thinks Peter is insane. The cantankerous mule helps him with his romantic problems, but won't speak or show his miraculous skills to anyone else. Stirling doesn't lie about his source of information, and when he insists that the animal rescued him, he is placed in a psychiatric ward. Each time Stirling is released he accomplishes something noteworthy in hilarious situations at the instigation of Francis. And each time, he is sent back to the psycho ward when he insists on crediting the mule's amazing abilities Finally, Stirling gets General Stevens (John McIntire) to order Francis to speak, and he obeys. The mule identifies himself to the commanding general as "Francis, 123d Mule Detachment, serial number M52519."

During one of Stirling's enforced hospital stays, he is befriended by Maureen Gelder (Patricia Medina), a beautiful French refugee who pretends she was lost in the jungle. He has a crush on her, grows to trust her and tells her about Francis. Later, a propaganda radio broadcast from Tokyo Rose mocks the Allies for being advised by a mule. This leads to Maureen being unmasked as a spy. The press is told that the absurd story was concocted in order to flush her out.

Francis: I hope to kiss a duck I can talk!

Francis is shipped back to America for further study, but his plane crashes in Kentucky. After the war, Peter searches for and finally finds him alive and well. While the film is basically a one joke movie, it has an innocence that carries it along at a good pace, and scenes such as Peter's attempts at speaking French to impress a pretty young war refugee are very funny.

FRANCIS is a black and white comedy film that launched the Francis the Talking Mule series. It is touching as well as funny. Donald O'Connor once remarked that he enjoyed this film because it gave him a chance to intermingle a little bit of drama with the comedy. Francis the mule was featured in seven movie comedies in the 1950s. The character originated in a novel by writer David Stern, and soon Universal Studios bought the rights for a film series, with Stern adapting his own script for the first entry, simply titled FRANCIS. This is a perfect family film, even amusing to the adults. If all people had as much sense as this talking mule, the world will be a much better place than its present condition.

The cast also includes: Zasu Pitts (Nurse Valerie Humpert), Ray Collins (Col. Hooker), Eduard Franz (Col. Plepper), Howland Chamberlain (Maj. Nadel), James Todd (Col. Saunders), Robert Warwick (Col. Carmichael), Frank Faylen (Sgt. Chillingbacker), Tony Curtis (Capt. Jones), Mikel Conrad (Maj. Garber), Loren Tindall (Maj. Richards), Charles Meredith (Banker Munroe), Fred Aldrich (Soldier Patient in Psychiatric Ward), Robert Anderson (Capt. Grant), Robert Blunt (Second ambulance man), Laura K. Brooks (Visitor), Roger Cole (Correspondent), Robert Conte (Photographer), Helen Dickson (Bank Customer), Richard Farmer (Marine Corps. captain), Al Ferguson (Capt. Dean), Harold Fong (Japanese soldier), Jack Gargan (Bank Employee), Tim Graham (Lt. Bremm), Sam Harris (Officer seated in Service Club), Harry Harvey (Correspondent), Jim Hayward (Capt. Norman), Judd Holdren (First ambulance man), Ted Jordan (General's Aide), Marvin Kaplan (First Medical Corps lieutenant), Joseph Kim (Japanese Lt. Taki), John Laird (Switchboard Operator), James Linn (Correspondent), Mickey McCardle (Captain Anderson), Fraser McMinn (Second Medical Corps. lieutenant), Roger Moore (Marine Corps. major), Howard Negley (Correspondent), Peter Prouse (Correspondent), Jon Riffel (Switchboard Operator), Jack Shutta (Sgt. Mller), Larry Steers (Officer at Psychiatric Hearing), Chill Wills (Francis the Talking Mule voice), and Duke York (Sgt. Poor, G2). Original music was composed by Frank Skinner and Walter Scharf. The screenplay was written by David Stern from his own 1946 novel. Arthur Lubin directed.

Donald O'Connor stars as an American soldier who gets into trouble when he insists an Army mule named Francis can speak. In its common modern meaning, a mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse. The distinctive voice of Francis was provided by Chill Wills. He never received billing for his vocal work, though he was featured prominently on-screen as blustery General Ben Kaye in the fourth sequel, FRANCIS JOINS THE WACS (1954). The first six movies were directed by Universal comedy veteran Arthur Lubin, a film director and producer who directed several Abbott & Costello films and created the TV series MISTER ED.

The actual mule who appeared on-screen was not a male at all, but a female named Molly, selected because she was easy to handle. According to author Pauline Bartel, Universal paid $350 for the animal, but made millions from the film series. Molly was trained by Les Hilton, a former apprentice of Will Rogers who would also go on to train Bamboo Harvester, the horse who played Mister Ed in the TV series. To create the impression that the mule was actually talking, Hilton used a thread fed into the animal's mouth, which when tugged, would cause Molly to try to remove it by moving her lips. The same technique was used for Mister Ed.

As the titles indicate, each film has a different setting or gimmick, exposing the wordly-wise mule and the naive GI to race track excitement, the world of journalism, and many branches of the military, from West Point to the WAC. The basic plots are fairly similar. Stirling, with the sage but sardonic advice of Francis gained from overhearing generals plan strategy or from discussions with other equines, triumphs over his own incompetence. However, inevitably, he is forced to reveal that his advisor was a mule, and be subject to mental analysis--sometimes more than once per movie--until the grand revelation when Francis displays his talent to individuals or to a large group. The astonishing existence of a talking mule is conveniently forgotten by the next movie, however.

FRANCIS GOES TO THE RACES (1951) is the first sequel to FRANCIS and stars Donald O'Connor, Piper Laurie, and Cecil Kellaway. As with the first film, David Stern, the author of the book which started this all off had a hand in the screenplay. Peter (Donald O'Connor) has been fired from the bank job he had in the first film, and is on the road. Francis finds a cousin of his at a horse racing ranch along the way. The two soon find themselves at the track, caught up with big races and small time crooks. Francis, who has the inside track with the racehorses, provides Peter with names of the winners before the races are run. "Does he talk?" asks Peter. "Whoever heard of a talking horse?" answers the talking mule. Peter wins a fistful of cash and uses it to buy a racehorse for the farm. Unfortunately, the mare he chooses is suffering from a lack of confidence. Fortunately, Francis is around to perk her up. When not dealing with the mare, Peter finds time to court the horse-breeder's lovely niece. Despite a pleasant performance by Piper Laurie as the romantic interest, this film is a little flat and one of the least successful.

FRANCIS GOES TO WEST POINT (1952) stars Donald O'Connor, Lori Nelson, Alice Kelley, and Gregg Palmer. This third movie deals with a young man enrolling at West Point, where he needs to be tutored by his friend, Francis the Talking Mule. Picking up the pace a bit Peter Stirling (Donald O'Connor) is now working at a nuclear plant. With a little help from Francis he manages to foil some would-be saboteurs, and in recognition of his time in Burma is offered a place at West Point to train as an army officer. Francis is the West Point football team's mascot, and manages to tag along to watch Peter slip to 687th place in a class of 687. The mule's motherly side comes through and he helps Peter through his troubles in and out of the classroom. This time around, O'Connor is allotted two lovely leading ladies, played by Lori Nelson and Alice Kelly. Two of the West Point cadets are played by future TV favorites David Janssen and James Best. One of the shortest entries, this one feels tighter and is a return to form after the slightly disappointing second film.

FRANCIS COVERS THE BIG TOWN (1952) is the fourth in a series of films about Peter and Francis the Talking Mule. Once again they are on the road, this time to the Big Apple. Peter is wondering what job would suit him. "What would I be good at?" he wonders. "Getting into trouble" Francis wisely replies. Peter ends up working for a newspaper and his greatest source of news tips is Francis, who has become friendly with all the police horses. When asked how he manages to stay abreast of the news, Peter tries to explain about Francis, and is labeled a looney-tune. But when Peter is brought to court on a homicide charge, Francis breaks his self-imposed rule of talking only to Peter and testifies on his master's behalf. With Francis' aid, Peter cracks the murder case and is graduated to star reporter. At fadeout time, Francis is seen wooing a female zebra, explaining "Don't let the striped pajamas fool ya." This sequel is harmless fun, bolstered by a good supporting cast, including Gene Lockhart as Peter's editor and Gale Gordon as a flustered District Attorney.

FRANCIS JOINS THE WACS (1954) stars Donald O'Connor, Julie Adams, and Chill Wills. Because of a bureaucratic snafu, ex-GI Peter Sterling (Donald O'Connor) is called into active duty and assigned to a WAC unit, headed by Major Simpson (Lynn Bari). It is Sterling's task to train the women to be camouflage experts, but the ladies resent his presence, assuming that Peter has been sent to discredit their unit. But with the help of Francis, the WACs manage to win the annual War Games, and to bewilder misogynistic General Kaye (Chill Wills). In one scene Sterling has to masquerade as a WAC nurse while Francis hilariously heckles everybody. Julie Adams, then billed as Julia, provides the love interest. ZaSu Pitts also appears, recreating the role she'd played in the first Francis installment, while other uniformed females include Mamie Van Doren. This sequel borrows quite a bit from the first film, and the most memorable gag involves Peter's inability to tell if one of the WACS is standing at attention or at ease.

FRANCIS IN THE NAVY (1955) is the sixth and last in the Francis the Talking Mule series to be directed by Arthur Lubin and star Donald O'Connor and Chill Wills. Once more, O'Connor plays Army lieutenant Peter Sterling, who heads to a navy base when his old pal Francis is about to be auctioned off as surplus. He has to rescue Francis, but unfortunately Peter looks exactly like a sailor who steals his identity. The Navy mistakes him for his lookalike, and he has to convince them they have the wrong man. In short order, it's off to sea for both Peter and the mule. Among the able-bodied seamen in this film is a chap named Jonesy, played by a young Clint Eastwood in his second movie appearance. An eleborate slapstick finale brings this one to a rousing conclusion. Director Arthur Lubin left the Francis series after FRANCIS IN THE NAVY. Complaining that Francis the Mule was getting more fan mail than he was, Donald O'Connor also bade adios to the Francis series with this entry. The talented actor, singer, and dancer also did not want to be typecast.

FRANCIS IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE (1956) is the seventh and final entry in the series, made without any of the key creative personnel. Universal-International wasn't about to give up on this valuable property, and starred Mickey Rooney, with Charles Barton calling the shots. Likewise missing from the earlier series entries is the voice of Francis, Chill Wills. He is replaced by Paul Frees, who also narrated the film's promotional trailer. The plot and comic content is summed up by the title, as Francis and his new buddy David Prescott (Mickey Rooney) try to corral a gang of art thieves. Along the way, they get mixed up with a phony heiress (Virginia Welles), a series of murders (one of the victims is Richard Deacon) and, of course, a spooky old house. Most of the "scare" gags in FRANCIS IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE had been done earlier and better by Universal's own Abbott and Costello. Mickey Rooney replaced O'Connor as a new but similar character, David Prescott. Director Arthur Lubin and voice actor Chill Wills were replaced by Charles Lamont and Paul Frees, who did a credible approximation of Wills' voice. No real explanation was given or attempted as to why Francis had left Peter Stirling, or why he suddenly decides to befriend reporter Prescott. With the original elements gone, the movie, a standard tale of fake ghosts and gangsters, was poorly received and is widely viewed as the weakest entry in the series.

The first four Francis movies were released on DVD as a set. The video transfer for these films is quite good given their age and the fact that this is basically a budget release. It's not certain any restoration work has been done, and the quality does vary from film to film, but the overall result is pleasing. There is some stock war footage used in the first film which looks older and more worn than the film itself. The films are presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, non 16x9 enhanced, which was their original theatrical release ratio. All 4 movies are reasonably sharp, with fair shadow detail and no low level noise. In the first film at 26:16 the shadow detail, and a little later the beads of sweat on Peter as he moves through the jungle show a good level of general detail. The films are presented in their original black & white, with a nice fresh look and good gradation of grays across the scale. But the second film is a little more harsh in tonal range than the rest. There is some minor telecine wobble in the opening credits on the first film, and all of them exhibit occasional small artefacts. During the fourth film you can see some minor aliasing on the editor's tie at 34:10, which is a good example of the sort of aliasing that happens in the films, but it is infrequent. There is one piece of significant damage at 28:37. In the first film there appears to be a missing frame or two and the picture jumps. The second film has a bit more wear than the rest, but overall they are in fairly good shape for their age.

The audio transfer on these discs has sound quality acceptable for a mono track, and this sort of material would probably gain nothing from a surround remix. The only audio track on the discs is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track encoded at a bitrate of 192 Kb/s. When listening to these tracks in Dolby Digital mode a sound field where dialogue placement is indistinct, so Pro Logic mode should be chosen. Dialogue is clear at all times, with good audio sync. As the films are dialogue driven this is a good thing. The music by Frank Skinner in the first two films, uncredited in the second two, does the job without being too memorable. It is mixed at a satisfactory level compared with the rest of the audio. There is no surround activity to mention, except that dialogue is placed nicely towards the screen in Pro Logic mode. With the overall volume level adjusted to a comfortable level the dialogue was strident at times in the first two films. There is little use of the subwoofer for bass support, even during the odd explosion during the fighting scenes in the first film.

There are no extras, but there are 4 films in the set at a decent price. As this is a 7 film series, we may see some extras padding out the 3 films in Volume 2, assuming it ever is marketed. The menu is static and allows you to choose either the first or second film on each disc. You are then taken to a second menu. From this menu you can Play the film, select a Scene (each film has 18 Chapter Stops) or enable Subtitles. The Region 4 and the Region 1 versions of this DVD set appear to be identical so that there is no preference for one over the other. The video transfer is quite good for a fairly old series of films, which would probably have been fairly low budget features at the time.

Mister Ed (1961 - 1966) * * ¾

(opening line of each episode)
Mister Ed: Hello, I'm Mister Ed.

Wilbur Post (Alan Young) is an eccentric and klutzy architect who buys a house in the country. The rambling country home he and his tolerant but domineering wife Carol (Connie Hines) live in has a barn that doubles as Wilbur's office and a horse named Mister Ed (Bamboo Harvester, voiced by Allan Lane). This palomino American Saddlebred can speak, but only to Wilbur, the first human he has ever met worth talking to. Despite all his efforts, Mister Ed will only talk to him. Much of the program's humor stems from Wilbur trying to get Mister Ed to talk to others. Never! Wilbur often looks foolish when friends and family enter the barn and catch Wilbur in mid-sentence talking to Mister Ed. The horse is a notorious troublemaker for Wilbur. Even the way Mister Ed always whinnies "Wwwillburrr" conveys the condescension the horse feels for its master. Confusion caused by having a talking horse, and the situations Mister Ed gets Wilbur into form the stories.

(Wilbur finds Mister Ed sleeping in his living room)
Wilbur: Oh no.
Mister Ed: If you had a dog, you'd let him sleep in the house.
Wilbur: A dog is different. A dog is a household pet.
Mister Ed: Then call me "Rover" and wake me at eight.

Mister Ed is the best thing that ever happened to Wilbur. Without the horse, he would be just another faceless and bland suburbanite. The horse is Wilbur's guru, friend, and confidant. Mister Ed is a "man" of the world, who bones up on his French and attempts to dance the tango. He is also quite ribald, often making risque comments about fillies. His delightful insouciance and devil-may-care attitude make this TV show very appealing and amusing. Everything else is fluffy, banal and plodding nonsense.

Mister Ed: What do you say we go out riding and pick up a couple of fillies?
Wilbur: I'm not a horse, remember?
Mister Ed: Too bad, we could have a ball double dating.

Mister Ed: I love Christmas. Wilbur is so full of the spirit of giving, and I'm so full of the spirit of receiving.

Wilbur: (after Ed finds a straw hat) What are you going to do with a straw hat?
Mister Ed: I'll wear it till it goes out of style. Then I'll eat it! (impatiently) Let's Go Wilbur!
Wilbur: Go? You're on the bottom!
Mister Ed: Sorry! I forgot! Stop gabbin' and get me some oats!

The other main characters in the show are their neighbors the Addisons, Roger (Larry Keating) and Kay (Edna Skinner) until 1963, and then the Kirkwoods, Gordon (Leon Ames) and Winnie (Florence MacMichael). In 1963, the child actor Darby Hinton, cast thereafter as Israel Boone on NBC's Daniel Boone, guest starred as Rocky in the episode "Getting Ed's Goat". Jack Albertson appeared occasionally from 1961 to 1963 as Kay Addison's older brother Paul Fenton.

Wilbur: (after Mister Ed makes a great shot in a ring toss game) Good throw, Ed! I bet you're also good at pitching horseshoes!
Mister Ed: No, Wilbur, I don't play horseshoes.
Wilbur: Really? Why not?
Mister Ed: Because Mom always taught us kids not to throw our clothes around!
Wilbur: Ed, you have run away for the last time! I'm going to lock you in your stall.
Mister Ed: Don't do that Wilbur! I suffer from claustrophobia!
Wilbur: Claustrophobia? You mean you have a fear of confined spaces?
Mister Ed: Sure, it runs in the family. I even get nervous when I put my nose in a small feedbag.
Wilbur: I've been meaning to ask you, Ed. Just how do horses sleep standing up?
Mister Ed: (Shocked) We Do?
Wilbur: Didn't you know?
Mister Ed: How can I? When I'm asleep my eyes are closed! Well, time to hit the hay... oh I forgot, I ate it!

For the final season, the show focuses strictly on the home life of the Posts, which is made more interesting when Carol's grumpy and uptight father Mr. Higgins (Barry Kelly), who appears occasionally through the entire series, apparently moves in with Wilbur and Carol during the final episodes. He never stopped loathing Wilbur since his quirky eccentricity clashes with his emotionless and uptight personality, and he never stops trying to persuade Carol to leave Wilbur, whom he refers to as a "kook" because of his klutziness. The whole thing is good clean silly fun in the tradition of GREEN ACRES, THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES, and PETTICOAT JUNCTION.

MISTER ED is an American television situation comedy produced by Filmways that first aired in syndication from January 5 to July 2, 1961 and then on CBS from October 1, 1961 to February 6, 1966. MISTER ED was the first series ever to debut as a midseason replacement. The entire six year MISTER ED series of 142 episodes was filmed in black and white. According to Arthur Lubin, the show's producer, Alan Young was chosen as the lead character because he "just seemed like the sort of guy a horse would talk to." Lubin, a friend of Mae West, scored a coup by persuading the screen icon to guest star in one episode. It's hilarious when Mister Ed moves in with the movie star.

The concept of the show was similar to FRANCIS THE TALKING MULE (1950), with the equine normally talking only to one person, and thus both helping and frustrating its owner. Arthur Lubin also produced the 1950s FRANCIS film series. Mister Ed (1949-1970) was voiced by ex-B-movie cowboy star Allan "Rocky" Lane speaking and Sheldon Allman singing, except his line in the theme song, which was sung by its composer, Jay Livingston. Ed was voice-trained for the show by Les Hilton. Lane remained anonymous and the credits list Mister Ed as playing "Himself". However, his real name was Bamboo Harvester. Ed's stablemate, a quarter horse named Pumpkin, who was later to appear in the television series Green Acres, was also Ed's stunt double in the show. There are a few conflicting stories regarding the death of Mister Ed. Connie Hines retired from acting a few years after the show's cancellation in 1966, but she and Alan Young still make public appearances together.

The cast also includes: James Flavin (SIA Agent J.G. Slattery), Richard Deacon (Dr. Stekel, the Shrink), Joe Conley (Photographer), Barbara Morrison (Customer), Elizabeth Field (Bank Teller), Logan Field (Hogan), Richard Reeves (Charlie, Union Truck Terminal Worker), Hazel Shermet (Lady in Shower), Ben Welden (Joe, Union Truck Terminal Worker), Frank Wilcox (Dr. Chadkin), Ray Kellogg (Frank), Karl Lukas (Charlie), Nick Stewart (Mailman), Robert Nunn, John Qualen, Donna Douglas, Lee Goodman, Mary Carroll, Henry Corden, Rolfe Sedan, Howard Wendell, Jay Ose, Olan Soule, Al Checco, Neil Hamilton, Hugh Sanders, Chick Chandler, Norman Leavitt, Robert Carson, George N. Neise, George O'Hanlon, Coleen Gray, Ray Walker, Peter Leeds, Raymond Bailey, Elvia Allman, Eleanor Audley, George Barrows, Les Tremayne, John Hale, Jack LaLanne, Karen Norris, Doris Packer, Anthony Warde, Don Brodie, Carole Evern, Henry Norell, Chris Hughes, Percy Helton, Robert Anderson, Riza Royce, Willard Waterman, Ricky Star, Gail De Cossi, Robert Patten, Ginny Tyler, Butch Patrick, Moyna MacGill, Sharon Tate, Bill Baldwin, Irwin Charone, June Whitley Taylor, Oscar Beregi Jr., Henry Brandon, Nobu McCarthy, and Michael Ross. The original music was composed by Jack Cookerly and Dave Kahn. There were 11 screenwriters, most notably Lou Derman (128 episodes). There were 5 directors, most notably Arthur Lubin (128 episodes).

The theme song was written by the team of Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, and sung for the show by Livingston, who was not the first choice. Only the music was used to open the first six episodes, but when a professional singer could not be found, Livingston agreed to sing the lyrics, because the producers were so pleased with his vocals, and he was never replaced.

The series was sponsored from 1961 to 1963 by Studebaker Corporation, a now-defunct American car manufacturer. Studebakers were featured prominently in the show during this period. The Posts are shown owning a 1962 Lark convertible, and the company used publicity shots featuring the Posts and Mister Ed with their product (various cast members also appeared in "integrated commercials" for Lark at the end of the program). The Addisons are shown owning a 1963 Avanti. Ford Motor Company provided the vehicles starting at the beginning of 1965. It is also interesting to note that in the first episode ever aired, the Posts are driving a 1961 Studebaker Lark.

It is often said the crew was able to get Mister Ed to move his mouth by applying peanut butter to his gums in order for him to try to remove it by moving his lips. However, Alan Young admitted in 2004 that he had started that story himself, and explaining the actual method used. In an interview on April 7, 2007 on radio station 3AW, Melbourne, Australia, he admitted that a loose piece of Nylon was inserted under Mister Ed's lip which the horse attempted to remove on his trainer's cue. Mister Ed was so well trained that the insert would be ignored until the required cue. Examination of Mister Ed footage shows that the "marionette theory" (pulling strings to make him talk) was at work at least some of the time. Excerpts exist from a few episodes where the lighting and camera angle reveal a visible nylon "bit" being pulled for each word Ed spoke. Young denied this occurred in the radio interview. Some may claim a nylon bit was needed in order to have Ed turn his head or perform some other movement without his trainer having to be in the camera shot, but the evidence is that the bit was also used when Ed was standing still and merely had to talk. Young finally admitted during his interview for the Archive of American Television that a string was pulled to make Ed talk, noting that "this is for the Archive, right?" before explaining that he had used the peanut butter fable for years in radio interviews instead of telling the truth.

MGM Home Entertainment released two Best of collections of MISTER ED on DVD in Region 1. Volume 1 was released January 13, 2004 and contains 21 episodes. Volume 2 was released March 8, 2005 and contains 20 episodes. Season 1 has 26 episodes and the previously released Best of MISTER ED Volume 1 only has four shows from Season 1 with the Best of Mister Ed Volume 2 having none, indicating 22 of the 26 shows will be new to DVD. Due to poor sales, further volumes were not released. The quality on the Best of MISTER ED DVD's Is very good. MGM also released a single-disc entitled "Mister Ed's Barnyard Favorites" on July 26, 2005 which contains the first eight episodes featured on Volume One. On October 6, 2009, Shout! Factory will release the complete first season of MISTER ED on DVD in Region 1. Judging by the pattern of other CBS and Filmways programs of the era, it is possible that some episodes from the early seasons may have fallen into the public domain.

In 2004, a remake was planned for the Fox network, with Sherman Hemsley as the voice of Mister Ed, David Alan Basche as Wilbur, and Sherilyn Fenn as Carol. Sara Paxton and Danny Pope were also in the show written by Drake Sather and directed by Michael Spiller. The pilot was filmed, but was not picked up by Fox. The show's writer and producer, Drake Sather, committed suicide shortly before the pilot's completion.

Back to the Future (1985) * * *

Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) is a 17 year-old living in Hill Valley, California. Browbeaten by his principal at school, Marty also endures the acrimonious relationship between his nerdy father George (Crispin Glover) and his mother Lorraine Baines McFly (Lea Thompson). On the morning of Friday, October 25, 1985, his eccentric friend, scientist Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown (Christopher Lloyd), calls him, asking to meet at 1:15 am the following morning at Twin Pines Mall. When arriving home from school, Marty finds the family car wrecked in the driveway, ruining his plans to spend the weekend with his girlfriend Jennifer (Claudia Wells). Inside the house, he finds his father George being bullied by his supervisor Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson), who had borrowed and wrecked the car. At dinner that night, his mother Lorraine recounts how she and George first met when her father hit George with his car as George was "bird-watching".

Biff Tannen: And uh, where's my reports?
George McFly: Uh, well, I haven't finished those up yet, but you know I... I figured since they weren't due till...
Biff Tannen: Hello? Hello? Anybody home? Huh? Think, McFly. Think! I gotta have time to get 'em retyped. Do you realize what would happen if I hand in my reports in your handwriting? I'll get fired. You wouldn't want that to happen, would ya? Would ya?
George McFly: Of course not, Biff. Nah, I wouldn't want that to happen. Now, look. I'll, uh, finish those reports on up tonight and I'll run 'em on over first thing tomorrow. All right?
Biff Tannen: Eh, not too early. I sleep in Saturdays. Oh, McFly, your shoe's untied. Don't be so gullible, McFly. Got the place fixed up nice-o, McFly.

That night, Marty meets Doc as planned in the parking lot of Twin Pines Mall. Doc presents a DeLorean DMC-12 which he has modified into a time machine. As Marty videotapes, Doc explains the car travels to a programmed date and time upon reaching 88 miles per hour using plutonium in a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of power it requires. Demonstrating how to program the machine, Doc enters in November 5, 1955 as the target date, explaining that it was the day he conceived the idea of the flux capacitor; the device which "makes time travel possible." Before Doc can depart for his planned trip into the future, a group of Libyan terrorists, from whom he stole the plutonium, arrive in a Volkswagen bus and murder him. Marty jumps into the DeLorean and is pursued by the Libyans until he accelerates to 88 miles per hour and is magically transported back in time to 1955.

Marty McFly: Wait a minute, Doc. Ah... Are you telling me that you built a time machine... out of a DeLorean?
Dr. Emmett Brown: The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?

The car's starter fails shortly thereafter. Marty hides it, and makes his way into town on foot. He finds that the town square now reflects the popular culture of the 1950s, and that the clock tower which was destroyed sometime in his past is once again functioning. Marty runs into his own father, then a teenager, being tyrannized just as he was in 1985 by Biff, then the school bully. Marty follows his father George, who turns out to be a peeping tom, not a birdwatcher, as he is about to be hit by a car. Marty pushes George out of the way and takes the impact. The car turns out to be driven by Lorraine's father, resulting in Lorraine becoming infatuated with Marty instead of George. Marty is disturbed by her flirtations, which contrast sharply with the prudish mother he is familiar with. He flees from her home to track down Doc Brown.

Marty McFly: Do you mind if we... park... for a while?
Lorraine Baines: That's a great idea. I'd love to park.
Marty McFly: Huh?
Lorraine Baines: Marty, I'm almost 18 years old. It's not like I've never parked before.
Marty McFly: What?
Lorraine Baines: Marty, you seem so nervous. Is something wrong?
Marty McFly: No... No.
(Lorraine takes a sip from a liquor bottle)
Marty McFly: (grabbing the bottle from her) Lorraine, Lorraine, What are you doin'?
Lorraine Baines: (laughs) I swiped it from the old lady's liquor cabinet.
Marty McFly: Yeah, well, you shouldn't drink.
Lorraine Baines: Why not?
Marty McFly: Because you--you might regret it later in life.
Lorraine Baines: Marty, don't be such a square. Everybody who's anybody drinks.
(Marty takes a sip from Lorraine's bottle then notices Lorraine lighting a cigarette)
Marty McFly: Geez! You smoke too?
Lorraine Baines: Marty, you're beginning to sound just like my mother!
(Marty wakes up in Lorraine's bed)
Marty McFly: Mom... is that you?
Lorraine Baines: There, there now. Just relax. (pats a damp cloth on Marty's forehead) You've been asleep for almost nine hours now.
Marty McFly: I had a horrible nightmare. I dreamed that I went... back in time. It was terrible.
Lorraine Baines: Well... You're safe and sound now, back in good old 1955.
Marty McFly: 1955?

Doc at first believes that Marty is a lunatic. Marty convinces Doc by recounting the story of how Doc got the inspiration for the flux capacitor, and then by showing Doc the videotape of the 1985 experiment. However, when he hears his older self describe the power requirements for time travel, Doc is shocked. He tells Marty that aside from plutonium, the only possible source of that much power is a bolt of lightning, which cannot be predicted. Marty remembers that the lightning strike at the clock tower will occur the following Saturday (November 12, 1955) at 10:04 pm. As a result, Doc begins planning a way to harness the bolt's power. Doc also deduces that Marty, by saving his father from the car, has prevented his parents from meeting, and instructs him to set things right.

Doc: Then tell me, "Future Boy", who's President in the United States in 1985?
Marty McFly: Ronald Reagan.
Doc: Ronald Reagan? The actor? (chuckles in disbelief) Then who's Vice-President? Jerry Lewis? (rushing out and down a hill toward his laboratory) I suppose Jane Wyman is the First Lady!
Marty McFly: Whoa! Wait! Doc!
Doc: And Jack Benny is Secretary of the Treasury.
Marty McFly: (outside the lab door) Doc, you gotta listen to me.
Doc: (opens the door to the lab) I've had enough practical jokes for one evening. Good night, Future Boy! (closes the door leaving Marty outside)
Marty McFly: No, wait! Doc. Doc. The-the-the bruise--the bruise on your head. I know how that happened! You told me the whole story. You were standing on your toilet, and you were hanging a clock, and you fell, and you hit your head on the sink. And that's when you came up with the idea for the Flux Capacitor... Which... is what makes time travel possible.
(Doc is watching a video of the 1985 Doc)
Doc: What on Earth's this thing I'm wearing?
Marty McFly: Ah, this, this is a radiation suit.
Doc: Radiation suit? Of course, because of all the fallout from the atomic wars.

After several failed attempts at playing matchmaker, Marty eventually works out a plan to have George appear to rescue Lorraine from Marty's overt sexual advances on the night of a school dance, so he can leave to make his return to 1985. However, Biff shows up unexpectedly and orders his friends to lock Marty in a car trunk. Very drunk, Biff jumps into the car and attempts to force himself on the horrified Lorraine. George arrives as he and Marty have planned and is shocked to find Biff instead of Marty. Biff orders him to turn around and walk away, but George cannot bring himself to ignore Lorraine's pleas for help. When Biff pins his arm behind his back and laughs as he knocks away Lorraine who tries to defend him, George knocks out the bully with a single punch. A smitten Lorraine follows George to the dance floor, where they kiss for the first time, ensuring Marty's existence.

Doc: You've gotta get your father and mother to interact in some sort of social...
Marty McFly: Wh-what? You mean like a date?
Doc: Right.
Marty McFly: Well, what kind of date? I don't know. What do kids do in the '50s?
Doc: Well, they're your parents you must know them. What are their common interests? What do they like to do together?

Meanwhile Doc has used cables to connect the clock tower's antenna to two lampposts, which he plans to have Marty drive under in the DeLorean, now with a lightning rod, the moment the lightning strikes. Before Marty can leave, Doc finds a letter in his coat pocket that Marty has written, warning him about his future murder. Doc indignantly tears up the letter without reading it, describing the dangers of altering the future. Marty instead adjusts the time machine to take him back to 1985, the parallel year, ten minutes earlier than he left, giving him time to warn Doc. When he returns to the future, however, the car stalls and Marty arrives at the mall too late to save Doc. As Marty begins crying behind his friend's body, Doc wakes up and opens his radiation suit to reveal a bulletproof vest. He shows Marty the letter he had written, taped back together. When asked about his belief in not altering the future, Doc replies, "I figured, what the hell?"

Doc: (reads the "Save the Clock Tower" flyer and reacts with hope) This is it! This is the answer. It says here... that a bolt of lightning is going to strike the clock tower at precisely 10:04 pm, next Saturday night! If... If we could somehow... harness this lightning... channel it... into the flux capacitor... it just might work. Next Saturday night, we're sending you back to the future!

The next morning, Marty finds his family has been changed for the better. Lorraine is physically fit and is no longer prudish, and George has become a self-confident novelist who confronts a servile Biff. Then Doc arrives, insisting frantically that he has visited the future and that they must go back with him to work out a problem concerning their future children. The three take off into the sky in a newly upgraded DeLorean that can fly, and disappear into the future.

BACK TO THE FUTURE is a 1985 comedic science fiction adventure film directed by Robert Zemeckis, co-written by Bob Gale and produced by Steven Spielberg. Beyond its dazzling special effects, the best element of the movie is the performance of Michael J. Fox, who finds himself in the quagmire of surviving the conservative 1950s with a hip 1980s mindset. When released, it became the most successful film of the year, grossing more than $380 million worldwide and receiving critical acclaim. It won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film, and also earned Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations. It marked the beginning of a franchise, with Back to the Future Part II and Back to the Future Part III released back-to-back in 1989 and 1990, as well as an animated series and theme park rides.

The story is set in 1955 because mathematically, a 17-year old traveling to meet his parents at the same age meant traveling to that decade. The era also marked the birth of rock n' roll and suburb expansion, which would flavor the story. Filming wrapped after a hundred days on April 20, 1985, and the film was delayed from May to August. But the release date was moved to July 3 after a highly positive test screening. "I'd never seen a preview like that," said Frank Marshall, "the audience went up to the ceiling." It opened on July 3, 1985 on 1,200 screens in North America, and spent 11 weeks at number one. The film went on to gross $210.61 million in North America and $170.5 million in foreign countries, accumulating a worldwide total of $381.11 million. BACK TO THE FUTURE had the fourth-highest opening weekend of 1985 and was the top grossing film of the year. Adjusted for inflation, the film is the 58th highest-grossing film in North America, as of October 2008.

The cast also includes: Claudia Wells (Jennifer Parker), Marc McClure (Dave McFly), Wendie Jo Sperber (Linda McFly), George DiCenzo (Sam Baines) Frances Lee McCain (Stella Baines), James Tolkan (Mr. Strickland), J.J. Cohen (Skinhead), Casey Siemaszko (3-D), Billy Zane (Match), Harry Waters Jr. (Marvin Berry), Donald Fullilove (Goldie Wilson), Lisa Freeman (Babs), Cristen Kauffman (Betty), Elsa Raven (Clocktower Woman), Will Hare (Pa Peabody), Ivy Bethune (Ma Peabody), Jason Marin (Sherman Peabody), Katherine Britton (Daughter Peabody), Jason Hervey (Milton Baines), Maia Brewton (Sally Baines), (Courtney Gains), (Mark Dixon), Richard L. Duran (Libyan Terrorist), Jeff O'Haco (Libyan Van Driver), Johnny Green (Scooter Kid # 1), Jamie Abbott Scooter Kid # 2), Norman Alden (Lou Caruthers), Read Morgan (Hill Valley Cop), Sachi Parker (Bystander # 1), Robert Krantz (Bystander # 2), Gary Riley (Guy # 1), Karen Petrasek (Girl # 1), George "Buck" Flower (Red Thomas), Tommy Thomas (Starlighter), Granville "Danny" Young (Starlighter), David Harold Brown (Starlighter), Lloyd L. Tolbert (Starlighter), Paul Hanson (Pinhead - Guitarist), Lee Brownfield (Pinhead), Robert DeLapp (Pinhead), Christopher Cundey (Lorraine's Classmate), Charles L. Campbell (1955 Radio Announcer), Deborah Harmon (TV Newscaster), Huey Lewis (High School Band Audition Judge), Tom Tangen (Student), and Mary Ellen Trainor (TV News Anchor). Alan Silvestri composed the original music. The screenplay was written by Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis, who also directed.

Film critic Roger Ebert wrote BACK TO THE FUTURE had similar themes to the films of Frank Capra, especially IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946). Ebert commented producer "Steven Spielberg is emulating the great authentic past of Classical Hollywood cinema, who specialized in matching the right director (Robert Zemeckis) with the right project." Janet Maslin of The New York Times believed the film had a balanced storyline. "It's a cinematic inventing of humor and whimsical tall tales for a long time to come." Christopher Null, who first saw the film as a teenager, called it "a quintessential 1980s flick that combines science fiction, action, comedy, and romance all into a perfect little package that kids and adults will both devour." Dave Kehr of Chicago Reader felt Gale and Zemeckis wrote a script that perfectly balanced science fiction, seriousness and humor. Variety applauded the performances, arguing Fox and Lloyd imbued Marty and Doc Brown's friendship with a quality reminiscent of King Arthur and Merlin. The BBC applauded the intricacies of the "outstandingly executed" script, remarking that "nobody says anything that doesn't become important to the plot later."

BACK TO THE FUTURE won the Academy Award for Sound Editing, while "The Power of Love", the sound designers, and Zemeckis and Gale (Original Screenplay), were nominated. The film won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film. Michael J. Fox and the visual effects designers won categories at the Saturn Awards. Zemeckis, composer Alan Silvestri, the costume design and supporting actors Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and Thomas F. Wilson were also nominated. The film was successful at the 39th British Academy Film Awards, where it was nominated for Best Film, original screenplay, visual effects, production design and editing. At the 43rd Golden Globe Awards, BACK TO THE FUTURE was nominated for Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy), original song ("The Power of Love"), Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Fox) and Best Screenplay for Zemeckis and Gale.

This movie ranked number 28 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies. In 2006, BACK TO THE FUTURE was voted the 20th greatest film ever made by readers of Empire. In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed the AFI's 10 Top 10--the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres--after polling more than 1,500 people from the creative community. BACK TO THE FUTURE was acknowledged as the 10th best film in the science fiction genre. It is among Channel 4's 50 Films to See Before You Die, being ranked 10th. On December 27, 2007, BACK TO THE FUTURE was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

BACK TO THE FUTURE became an international phenomenon, leading to two sequels which were filmed back-to-back and released in 1989 and 1990. The trilogy is noted for its irreverent comedy, eccentric characters and ability to incorporate complex theories of time-travel without confusing the audience. The two sequels did not do quite as well at the box office, but the trilogy remains immensely popular and has yielded such spin-offs as an animated television series and a motion-simulation ride at the Universal Studios Theme Parks in Universal City, California (now closed), Orlando, Florida (now closed), and Osaka, Japan.

BACK TO THE FUTURE Part II (1989)

Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) travels with Marty (Michael J. Fox) to the year 2015 where he discovers Marty's family is in ruins. Marty buys a sports almanac containing the outcomes of 50 years of sporting events (1950–2000). However, Doc catches him and throws the almanac in the trash, where the aged Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson) finds it. While Marty and Doc are at Marty's future house, Biff steals the DeLorean time machine and gives the book to himself just before he goes to the dance at the end of the first movie. When Doc and Marty return to 1985, they find that Biff has used the almanac's knowledge for financial gain, which allows him to turn Courthouse Square into a 27 story casino, "own" Hill Valley, get away with the murder of Marty's father, and later marry Marty's mother. Marty learns that Biff was given the book by an old man in 1955, so he and Doc go back to that date in order to steal the almanac from Biff before he can use it to destroy their lives. They accomplish this in a complex fashion, often crossing their own past-selves' paths. When the duo are about to travel back to 1985, a lightning bolt strikes the DeLorean and scrambles the time circuits, sending Doc back to 1885 and leaving Marty stranded in 1955. In other words, the film ends as a cliffhanger.

Critics and audiences were not too pleased with BACK TO THE FUTURE Part II, the inventive and clever sequel. Director Zemeckis and cast bent over backwards to add layers of time-travel complication, and while it exercises the brain it isn't necessarily funny in the same way that its predecessor was. However it's well worth watching just to appreciate the imagination that went into it, particularly in a finale that has Marty watching his own actions from the first film. Ending it as a cliffhanger was a cheap mistake.

BACK TO THE FUTURE Part III (1990)

After finding out that Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) is trapped in 1885, Marty (Michael J. Fox) sets out to find Doc in 1955 to help him fix the DeLorean, which has been waiting for him in a mineshaft for 70 years, and restore it to working order. Learning that Doc gets shot in 1885, Marty travels back in time to save Doc, who is a blacksmith, and bring him back to the future. Unfortunately, Marty rips a hole in the fuel line, rendering the DeLorean immobile. Furthermore, Doc falls in love with schoolteacher Clara Clayton (Mary Steenburgen), and considers staying in 1885. Marty must convince Doc to come back with him and find a way to get back to his time before it's too late. After several dramatic action scenes involving a speeding locomotive, Marty returns to 1985 in the restored DeLorean. It appears on a train track as planned, and Marty jumps out just in time to see the DeLorean time machine destroyed by a modern train. He worries that Doc has been lost in the past forever, when suddenly Doc Brown appears in a new time machine, modeled after a locomotive. He introduces Marty to Clara, to whom he is now married, and his two sons, Jules (Todd Cameron Brown) and Verne (Dannel Evans). When Marty asks if Doc and his family are going to the future, Doc replies that he's already been to the future. The locomotive flies across the sky and disappears, and the trilogy ends.

Shot back-to-back with the second chapter in the trilogy, BACK TO THE FUTURE Part III is less hectic than that film and has the same spirit of the first, but in a new setting. This time, Marty ends up in the Old West of 1885, trying to prevent the death of mad scientist Christopher Lloyd at the hands of gunman Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson). Director Zemeckis successfully blends exciting special effects with the traditions of a Western and comes up with something original and fun.

The trilogy has been released on DVD by Universal Studios. Disc 1 is fine. The second DVD does have the obvious "V2" (for version 2) on the face near the bottom, after all rights reserved. The third DVD does not have "V2" on the bottom. A computer check of the contents proves these are updated versions of the widescreen DVDs. The sound and video are excellent, with the viewing screen filled perfectly. The 5.1 re-master sounds great and is utilized very well. One of the best sound effects is within the last 15 minutes of disc 1, where a helicopter sounds like it is circling the room from the right to rear to left. Unfortunately Universal, when creating the transfers for the 2nd and 3rd movies, managed to improperly matte the films. This means that the image area you are seeing is not the theatrical release. These problems have existed since the R2 versions were released, but Universal decided they didn't want a new transfer process to interfere with their profits and think most people won't notice the problem or won't care if they do. This is a relatively poor product by a studio which once produced quality DVDs.

Each of the three discs supposedly contains the movie and its own supplemental material. The length on some of these extras will leave you wanting more. Only the first disc contains an audio commentary and animated anecdotes, but nearly all of the other types of extras are to be found on all three discs. On disc 1 are the original 1985 and current retrospective featurettes, an interesting makeup test film archive, outtakes, production archives containing various photographs, storyboards to final feature comparisons, and a theatrical teaser trailer. Disc 2 contains the original 1989 and current retrospective featurettes, a hoverboard test on location clip, outtakes, production archives, storyboards to final feature comparisons, and the theatrical trailer. Disc 3 has no original "making-of" but has a retrospective featurette, outtakes, production archives, storyboards to final feature comparisons, the theatrical trailer, and a music video from ZZ Top for the rock song "Double Back". There is also an added promotional trailer for the DVD release of E.T.: THE 20th ANNIVERSARY.

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) * * *

Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) is a young man struggling to make a living in NYC in the 1950s. While working at a party playing the piano, he is approached by wealthy Herbert Greenleaf (James Rebhorn), who believes him to be a school friend of his son, Dickie. Greenleaf asks Ripley to travel to Italy to persuade Dickie to return to the US. Dickie is a wayward son, throwing his life away on Jazz and a girlfriend. Ripley accepts the assignment, even though he did not go to Princeton and has never met Dickie. He is given $1,000 to carry out this job. In Italy Ripley meets Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) and his girlfriend Marge Sherwood (Gwyneth Paltrow), and quickly ingratiates himself into their lives. Over time Dickie begins to resent Ripley's presence and growing dependence, especially after he learns that Ripley has been lying about their days together at Princeton. Ripley's feelings are complicated by his desire to maintain the wealthy lifestyle Greenleaf has afforded him, and by his growing sexual obsession with his new friend.

Dickie Greenleaf: You know, without the glasses you're not even ugly.
Tom Ripley: I really feel happy. As if I had been granted a new lease in life. (imitating Dickie's father) "To me, jazz is noise. Insolent noise."
Dickie Greenleaf: Wow! Cut it out! It's so spooky, my hair's on end!
Tom Ripley: You're the brother I never had. I'm the brother you never had. I would do anything for you, Dickie.
Tom Ripley: First of all I know there's something. That evening when we played chess for instance it was obvious.
Dickie Greenleaf: What evening?
Tom Ripley: Oh sure, no, no, it's too dangerous for you to take on. Oh, no, no, we're brothers. Hey. And then you do this sordid thing with Marge. F**king her on the boat so we all have to listen. Which was excruciating! And you follow your c**k around and now you're getting married! I'm bewildered, forgive me. You're lying to Marge and then you're getting married to her. You're knocking up Silvana. You're ruining everybody. You wanna play the sax, you wanna play the drums. What is it, Dickie? What do you actually want?
Dickie Greenleaf: Who are you? Huh? Some third class loser? Who are you? Who are you to say anything to me? Who are you to tell me anything? Actually I really, really don't want to be on this boat with you. I can't move without you moving. Gives me the creeps. You give me the creeps!

As a gesture to Ripley, Greenleaf agrees to travel with him on a short holiday to Sanremo. The two hire a small boat and go sailing. They begin arguing while on board, with Dickie rejecting and mocking Ripley. Enraged, Ripley attacks Dickie, smashing him with an oar that kills him. Ripley then sinks the boat with Dickie's body on board to conceal his crime. When the hotel concierge mistakes Ripley for Greenleaf, Ripley realizes he can assume Greenleaf's identity. He takes on Dickie's signature and passport, and begins living off his allowance, while at the same time carefully providing communications to Marge to make her believe that Dickie has deserted her. "I feel like I've been handed a new life," he says. Greenleaf's old friend Freddie Miles (Philip Seymour Hoffman) visits Ripley at what he supposes to be Greenleaf's apartment in Rome. He is immediately suspicious of Ripley. When Miles discovers Ripley's scam, Ripley murders him and dumps the body.

Freddie Miles: In fact the only thing that looks like Dickie is you.
Tom Ripley: Hardly.
Freddie Miles: Have you done something to your hair?
Tom Ripley: Freddie, do you have something you'd like to say?
Freddie Miles: What? I think I'm saying it. Something's going on. He's either converted to Christianity... or to something else.
Tom Ripley: I suggest you ask Dickie that yourself. Otello's is on delle Croce, just off the Corso.
Freddie Miles: Is it on "delle Croce, just off the Corso?" You're a quick study, aren't you? Last time you didn't know your ass from your elbow, now you're giving me directions. That's not fair, you probably do know your ass from your elbow. I'll see you.

Ripley's life becomes a cat and mouse game with the Italian police and Greenleaf's friends. He must alternate between Dickie Greenleaf and Tom Ripley. His predicament is complicated by Meredith Logue (Cate Blanchett), a wealthy heiress he met while traveling to Italy, who believes Ripley to be Dickie. Ripley eventually resumes his own identity, forges a suicide note in Greenleaf's name, and moves to Venice. Soon Marge, Herbert Greenleaf, and private detective Alvin MacCarron (Philip Baker Hall) confront Ripley. Marge suspects Ripley of involvement in Dickie's death, and Ripley plans to murder her. He is interrupted when Marge's friend, Peter Smith-Kingsley (Jack Davenport), enters the apartment.

Peter: Sorry, I'm completely lost.
Tom Ripley: I know. I'm lost, too. I'm going to be stuck in the basement, aren't I, that's my, that's my... terrible, and alone, and dark, and I've lied about who I am, and where I am, and now no-one will ever find me.
Peter: What do you mean... lied about who you are?
Tom Ripley: I always thought it'd be better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody.
Peter: What are you talking about? You're not a nobody. That's the last thing you are.

Near the end of the film, private detective MacCarron reveals that Mr. Greenleaf has decided to give Ripley a portion of Dickie's income with the understanding that certain details about his son's past not be revealed to the Italian police. Ripley goes on a cruise with Smith-Kingsley, his new gay lover, only to discover that Meredith Logue is also on board. Logue knows Ripley only as Dickie Greenleaf, and Ripley realizes it will be impossible to keep Smith-Kingsley from discovering that he has been passing himself off as Greenleaf, since Peter and Meredith know each other. He cannot solve this dilemma by murdering Logue, because she is traveling with a large family who will notice her disappearance. The movie concludes with a sobbing Ripley killing Smith-Kingsley to protect his secret, and returning to his cabin alone. Everything indicates that Ripley has successfully gotten away with murders, but the ending is somewhat ambiguous so that viewers can draw their own conclusions about what happens.

(last lines)
Peter Smith-Kingsley: Good things about Mr. Ripley? Could take some time. Tom is talented. Tom is tender... Tom is beautiful... Tom is a mystery. Tom is not a nobody. Tom has secrets he doesn't want to tell me, and I wish he would. Tom has nightmares. That's not a good thing. Tom has someone to love him. That is a good thing. Tom is crushing me. Tom is crushing me... Tom, you're crushing me!

The cast also includes: Sergio Rubini (Inspector Roverini), Celia Weston (Aunt Joan), Fiorello (Fausto), Stefania Rocca (Silvana), Ivano Marescotti (Colonnello Verrecchia), Anna Longhi (Signora Buffi), Alessandro Fabrizi (Sergeant Baggio), Lisa Eichhorn (Emily Greenleaf), Gretchen Egolf (Fran), Jack Willis (Greenleaf Chaffeur), Frederick Alexander Bosche (Fran's Boyfriend), Dario Bergesio (Police Officer), Larry Kaplan (Uncle Ted), Claire Hardwick (Gucci Assistant), Antonio Prester (American Express Clerk), Lorenzo Mancuso (Bus Driver), Onofrio Mancuso (Priest), Massimo Reale (Immigration Officer), Emanuele Carucci Viterbi (American Express Clerk), Caterina Deregibus (Dahlia), Silvana Bosi (Ermelinda), Gianfranco Barra (Desk Manager Aldo), Renato Scarpa (Tailor), Deirdre Lovejoy (Fighting Neighbor), Brian Tarantina (Fighting Neighbor), Guy Barker (Trumpet), Bernardo Sassetti (Piano), Perico Sambeat (Alto Sax), Gene Calderazzo (Drummer), Joseph Lepore (Double Bass), Rosario Giuliuni (Tenor Sax), Eddy Palerno (Electric Guitar), Byron Wallen (Cornet), Pete King (Alto Sax), Clark Tracey Drummer), Jean Toussaint (Tenor Sax), Geoff Gascoyne (Bass), Carlo Negroni (Pano), Beppe Fiorello (Silvana's Fiancé), Marco Quaglia (Silvana's Brother), Alessandra Vanzi (Silvana's Mother), Marco Rossi (Photographer), Roberto Valentini (Onegin), Francesco Bovino (Lensky), Stefano Canettieri (Zaretsky), Marco Foti (Guillot), Ludovica Tinghi (Fausto's Fiancée), Nicola Pannelli (Dinelli's Cafe Waiter), Paolo Calabresi (Customs Officer), Pietro Ragusa (Record Store Owner), Simone Empler (Boy Singer), Gianluca Secci (Policeman), Manuel Ruffini (Policeman), Pierpaolo Lovino (Policeman), Roberto Di Palma (San Remo Hotel Desk Clerk), Cesare Cremonini (Boat Salesman), Fabrizia Dal Farra (Italian girl), Kent Gregory (Dockworker # 2), and Frank Slaten (Dockworker # 1). Gabriel Yared composed the original music. Anthony Minghella wrote the screenplay from Patricia Highsmith's 1955 novel. Anthony Minghella directed.

This stylish psychological thriller features outstanding acting by the entire cast. THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY is writer-director Anthony Minghella's impressive follow-up to his Oscar-winning triumph THE ENGLISH PATIENT (1996). Re-creating late-1950s Italy in detail, the film captures la dolce vita while suspensefully developing the fracturing of Ripley's mind as his crimes grow increasingly desperate. And while Alfred Hitchcock was necessarily discreet with the homosexual subtext in STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951), Minghella brings it out of the closet, increasing the dramatic tension and complexity of Ripley's psychological breakdown. Matt Damon plays Tom Ripley, the murderous hero, although he is outshone by the dazzling Jude Law, whose violent disappearance halfway through the picture is a great loss. Law is the draw, a sunny, slippery, and pansexual character who would have made a better Ripley himself. However, Matt Damon appears in almost every frame and is mesmerizing. This film feels warm but unsettling, as if hinting at approaching storms. The musical score is evocative and moving, flitting from lugubrious to manic.

THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY was filmed mainly in Italy with famous landmarks in the cities of Rome and Venice being used as a backdrop for the narrative. The beautiful Italian scenery more than compensates for any deficiencies in the movie. It's a very complex yet compelling story that requires strict attention to comprehend. This Hitchcockian character drama was previously filmed as PURPLE NOON (1960).

The DVD from Paramount is a high quality anamorphic transfer from a recent release. There is some noticeable film grain and a picture that tends towards softness. Colors are bright but not strongly saturated, there are no distracting digital artifacts, and only a small bit of dirt flecks or flaws. THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY does have a dark cast to it, even in the brightest outdoor shots, which may or may not be an intentional decision of cinematography. The audio is excellent. Rear surrounds are used sparingly for atmospheric support, as is the subwoofer. Action is primarily in the front, with a nicely wide and deep soundstage. The instrumental score and jazz tunes are reproduced with clarity and zest, particularly in the smoky club scenes. Dialogue is clearly understood.

Extras are plentiful, especially considering some of Paramount's past bare-bones releases. The 20 minute featurette is a decent mix of interviews, behind the scenes looks, and promotional material. A short (8 minutes) soundtrack featurette is a notch higher, as it looks at a sometimes overlooked facet of filmmaking and is less afflicted by PR fluff. The two music videos, "My Funny Valentine" and "Tu Vuo' Fa L'Americano", are a bit underwhelming, as they are entirely made from edited sequences from the movie itself. Two trailers for the film are oddly matted to a more narrow aspect ratio than the movie itself. Finally, the feature length commentary by writer/director Anthony Minghella is solid and packed with insight into the writing, acting, and production of THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY.